Some bay leaves for your stews, rosemary to season the meat, or mint to prepare mojitos! There are many spices and aromatic herbs that we use every day in the kitchen to season our foods and drinks. If you live in a rural environment, it is more than likely that you will even take them for yourself, as a natural, ecological and economical alternative to the ready-made jars that we can find in any supermarket. However, this is not the fastest option of all, as it requires time to defoliate and dull the entire crop.
Fortunately, we have discovered a viral trick with which you will avoid the arduous task of separating the leaves from the twigs of your spices or aromatic herbs one by one. And without wasting a single gram! The account with more than one and a half million followers on TikTok, @myrealfood, has shared a vital hack for all those who love differential flavor in the kitchen. Best of all, it is an easy, quick and cheap solution, since you will only have to use something that we all have at home: a strainer.
When you have your herbs dry or fresh enough, as the case may be, choose a strainer of the appropriate size for the number and size of twigs you want to remove. Place the strainer on a container or a flat, stable surface where it can be held firmly and leave out the branches of the spices or aromatic herbs that you are going to process. Next, you simply have to insert the branch inside the strainer and place the end of the stem in one of the holes in the mesh. Then, grab the stem with your fingers and pull it out firmly. Et voila! You will see how the leaves separate from the stem easily and fall to the bottom of the strainer.
Once you have defoliated all the production, you will see that depending on the herb or spice in question, one or another conservation method is applied. In the case of dry leaves such as bay, oregano or chamomile, removing the leaves is easier and faster and you will surely get the hang of it soon. In this case, it is enough to bottle them in a jar with a lid or airtight seal.
On the contrary, mint or spearmint need to maintain their freshness to be consumed. Very easy! Store them in a container with kitchen paper on the bottom and put it in the refrigerator and you will see how well they stay that way.
